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Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

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Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the same in Libya.

The Libyan war is just some bullshit to keep oil prices low, its very close to being a manufactured situation

Same could be argued about the last 100 years of the region. West doesn't give a shit about these countries as long as they keep selling oil (in dollars).

West propped and props up Islamism (and other tyrannies) to prevent nationalisations of oil resources. Seems to be mostly working as intended.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia's military is about 4-5x the size in men and 10x the budget, and 10x compounded over years, and years, and years. What's a GDP? :)

GDP is a measure of economic output. If your economy doesn't produce much then it is very hard to sustain a high intensity war.

Russia can turn into a war economy - which means GDP is nearly irrelevant. Right now they're doing warfare while still keeping the lights on at little inconvenience for the public. They can change that around.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#273

I'm not really aware of what's going on in Syria, and not really sure who's worse - Assad or the rebels, but it seems clear that Iran & Russia, which were main backers of Assad regime, appears extremely weak. That's understandable for Iran which may want to avoid to overextend itself following the recent events, but it's hard to comprehend why Russia was unable to do anything at all. In any case, it seems like there…

" not really sure who's worse"

What is the hot take on the rebels.?

Are these the ones the US was backing a few years ago against ISIS?

Is this another case of the replacement is worse? Or not?

Assad was so bad for using chemical weapons on citizens, the US couldn't conceive of worse? But is that true?

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#274

Rebel? How about we just call them for what they are, Turkish proxies in the north and US proxies in the east.

These "moderate rebels" are literally Al Qaeda and ISIS, but western media is manufacturing consent for them in real-time:

[0] https://x.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1865009325669818430?t=r-Pr...

I'd also note that HTS is a proscribed terror organisation in the UK - yet nobody is having their doors kicked in for supporting them, in stark contrast to those publishing the truth about Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#275
post #2

It's interesting that everywhere, the government forces simply abandoned their posts, and none of Syria's allies appear to be willing to intervene in any way. Maybe there's something else going on we don't know yet.

> Maybe there's something else going on we don't know yet. We know whats going on, the world was just focused elsewhere when this all started and suddenly spiraled. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham launched a run of the mill offensive on November 27 in retaliation to SAA attacks and it turned out to be so successful that the Kurdish SDF launched its own offensive on November 29 to take advantage of the situation. Within a week…

Plus Hezbollah has been beheaded and Iran attacked by Israel and Russia over-extended by its invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey has also been involved in this because they don't want the Kurds to have a state, but HTS seems to have managed to form a coalition for now.

There was also reports of US strafing attacks on columns of some SAA forces (and possibly IRGC) but that seems to have disappeared in the rapid events.

The existing government is trying to stay relevant, the current PM is in Damascus and is promising to work with whoever forms the new leadership. That might just be because he didn't escape and wants to stay out of jail.

Israel (and Russia) have been rumoured to have tried to destroy all the stocks of chemical and other weapons.

Russia will be desperate to hang on to its naval base at Tartus, but that seems to be wishful thinking, but maybe it can make a deal.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#277
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no counter-example of thriving democracies developed after western regime change projects. On the other hand, there’s Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

[flagged]

Also Italy and Austria.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#279
post #2

It's interesting that everywhere, the government forces simply abandoned their posts, and none of Syria's allies appear to be willing to intervene in any way. Maybe there's something else going on we don't know yet.

I think the timeline of failures was something like this:

1. Russia, being too entrenched in Ukraine, wanted some global focus shifted away from Ukraine, and managed to get Hamas (probably via Iran) to attack Israel last October. This would predictably become a very hot issue - especially in the US - and make the world "forget" Ukraine. There's been a lot of writing that the support for the Ukraine war will only last as long as there's mainstream focus on it, and that no new wars pop up.

2. The Gaza plan failed. Israel attacks Hezbollah and Iran, which means neither of those can help Syria. The retaliation from Israel was too strong.

3. Vital support from Russia, Iran, Hezbollah is now severely limited.

And that's pretty much that. The rebels in Syria saw their opportunity, and seized it.

What's more, is that Syria has long been an important supply route for Iran and Hezbollah. With rebel control, which is anti-Iran and anti-Hezbollah, this will have much wider-reaching impact.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#280
post #2

It's interesting that everywhere, the government forces simply abandoned their posts, and none of Syria's allies appear to be willing to intervene in any way. Maybe there's something else going on we don't know yet.

Syria's allies have been spending the last year getting thrashed. (Russia, Iran, Hizbollah)

The regime's allies*

The majority of the Syrian people opposed the ruthless dictator and their allies.

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